The students of GMERS medical science have filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court requesting fees charged by these colleges to be brought down on par with government medical colleges.
Since the GMERS is a society formed by the government and is attached to government-run hospitals, therefore, the government cannot charge exorbitant fees like the private self financed institutions, they said. There are 13 colleges being run by the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) having 2,100 seats. The fees structure being Rs 3.30 lakh annually for the undergraduate course on general seats, Rs 9 lakh per year for the management quota seat and $22,000 for the NRI quota seats.In contrast, the annual fees of government medical colleges are Rs 25,000 per annum.
Recently, the government issued a circular hiking the fees by 80% in such colleges. However, they had to roll back after strong protest by political parties and the students. The issue even reached the High Court.
The students, citing Supreme Court judgment in the petition, raised the issue that government colleges should not charge exorbitant fees like the private institutions.
The GMERS was formed by the government and it is ideally a government run body hence it can’t charge more fees.